1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the measurement of medical data. More particularly, the present invention relates to a test strip for measuring medical data from blood.
2. Description of the Related Art
The total cholesterol level in blood, plasma or serum is known as one type of medical data indicative of the risk of coronary arteriosclerosis. However, since recent clinical studies have shown a positive correlation between the level of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and the risk of coronary arteriosclerosis, LDL cholesterol levels are preferred as a medical indicator to total cholesterol levels.
LDL cholesterol levels can be measured using test strips in which suitable reactive agents are contained. Most of the measurement strips have a structure in which a plurality of pads containing reagents therein are stacked between an upper cover and a lower support. This stack structure is designed to flow a sample vertically, and comprises a blood-filtering layer and a color-developing membrane. This conventional structure is disadvantageous in that there is a large deviation in the smoothness of the contact surface between an upper and a lower layer. In this case, blood, which reaching the pads, differs in spreadability from one region to another, giving rise to measurement errors. Therefore, conventional test strips do not guarantee the reproducibility of medical data using even the same samples.